Google has stopped sharing user cell data with carriers over fears that it could attract unwanted attention from regulators.

According to Reuters, Google discontinued the service which shared user data with carriers, including location history, usage, and diagnostics, in April.

Wireless carriers reportedly used the data to help guide expansions of networks and suss out gaps in their coverage.

Those insights were provided free to carriers and vendors and data came from devices using Google´s Android operating system, which runs on about 75 percent of the world's smartphones.

Google will discontinue a data-sharing program with cell carriers amid concerns over privacy and how it may look to regulators. File photo

Even though the data was anonymized, and the sharing of it has become commonplace, Google´s move illustrates how concerned the company has become about drawing attention amid a heightened focus on data privacy.

Sources told Reuters that Google shut down the service, called called Mobile Network Insight, due to concerns about data privacy in addition to challenges ensuring data quality.

Google's Mobile Network Insights service, launched in March 2017, was essentially a map showing carriers signal strengths and connection speeds being delivered in each area.

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Data was aggregated, meaning they did not explicitly link any information to any individual phone user and included data relating to a carrier's own service and competitors, which were not identified by name.

A Google spokeswoman Victoria Keough confirmed the move to Reuters but declined to elaborate, saying only that changing 'product priorities' drove the decision.

Google´s notice to carriers when it shut down the service did not specify a reason, two of the four people told Reuters.

'We worked on a program to help mobile partners improve their networks through aggregated and anonymized performance metrics,' Keough said.

Google and other tech companies have turned their attention toward privacy as lawmakers further scrutinize how they treat customer data. File photo

The loss of Google´s service is the latest example of tech companies opting to end a data-sharing service rather than risk a breach or further scrutiny from lawmakers.

The European Union´s General Data Protection Regulation, introduced last year, prohibits companies sharing user data with third parties without users´ explicit consent or a legitimate business reason.

U.S. and European lawmakers have stepped up their focus on how tech companies treat user data after a series of large-scale data security failures and the revelation that Facebook improperly shared data on 87 million of its users with political consultancy Cambridge Analytica.

HOW CAN YOU FIND AND DELETE WHERE GOOGLE KNOWS YOU'VE BEEN?

Even if you have 'Location History' off, Google often stores your precise location.

Here's how to delete those markers and some best-effort practices that keep your location as private as possible.

But there's no panacea, because simply connecting to the internet on any device flags an IP address that can be geographically mapped.

Smartphones also connect to cell towers, so your carrier knows your general location at all times.